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Eels Attack Analysis

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145
exactly .... fergo did good - surely he stays on the wing .... I assume Opa has done enough to stay in the team .... Sivo stays

Waqa ..... I agree he is f**kin annoying and not living up to his potential - but I doubt he will be dropped

We’ve built a Ferrari without an engine. A strong forward pack that can match it with the best teams. Even hurt them. But all the better teams in the Comp have the better back. We can’t continue with the same players and tactics.
Ferrari engine with 3 on the tree.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145

Sterlo nails it here really says cant fault the effort but why are we chasing the collision with the ball when we should be looking for holes.

We dont pass enough in our own half then pass too much and go sideways when attacking.
Exactly what most, not all, are thinking.
As much as The Great Gus annoys me, when discussing our Eels he is pretty much spot on and I hate him even more for that.
Thats two legends of the game plus 99% of supporters versus BA and his ever willing sympathisers. He will have to come up with something special this next 6 weeks plus hopefully the semis to take pressure off himself. Its pretty much make or break for BA I reckon. Ill be hoping for "make" and cheering regardless and hope for a huge surprise. Time to aim up BA. Hopefully that dosent mean just run harder.
 

Joshuatheeel

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
19,581
I found it very strange that in the post-match interview when asked where we went wrong, Gutho said we trying to go wide and around them too often.

at the ground, i think that’s the exact opposite. I lost count of how many times our wingers and centres were unmarked as Canberra double and triple teamed our forwards in the middle. We had zero shape when coming out of our half when opportunities were there, especially on our left side in attack. Some early spreads would have reaped dividends, or at least some easy metres. It was actually a strength of ours in the Titans game, but we completely put it away against Canberra. It’s all good chasing collisions, but when their are gaps or spaces to be exploited someone needs to be heads up enough to notice them and take their chances

I reckon he means to us attacking their line from 30 or so out. Went wide to often without a quick play the ball or depth in attack. Even our shorts kicks were taken to soon.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145
Dumb footballers, dumb coach, dumb assistants... smart supporters.
Easy solution.
I reckon our players are brilliant. The old saying that " they would run through a brick wall for the coach" is what they bring every week. Exceptionally loyal to the coach. Their effort is unbelievable. Cant fault them.
 

emjaycee

Coach
Messages
12,868
I reckon our players are brilliant. The old saying that " they would run through a brick wall for the coach" is what they bring every week. Exceptionally loyal to the coach. Their effort is unbelievable. Cant fault them.
They are dumb if they cannot alter their play mid game and need the coach to tell them to.
Which is what Sterling was saying should happen. If we are getting bashed in the middle, start to go wide earlier. That is up to the captain, halfback and number 9 to work out mid game.
 

Gazzamatta

Coach
Messages
14,145
They are dumb if they cannot alter their play mid game and need the coach to tell them to.
Which is what Sterling was saying should happen. If we are getting bashed in the middle, start to go wide earlier. That is up to the captain, halfback and number 9 to work out mid game.
They have been told, as they continually repeat, that they have to stick to the game plan and "get them at the end". Ive heard this any number of times post match from both Gutho and Mitch. Have you ever heard them say we need to play whats in front of us if its not working? I havent. They play to a system that works often but not always.
 

crocodile

Bench
Messages
3,496
Could be my imagination. I'd have to consult the Pou book of statistical compilations. We don't seem to offload as much these days. Paulo, Nrown, Matto and Lane used to be habitual offloaders. Still are a little bit but not so much any more.
 
Messages
42,876
They are dumb if they cannot alter their play mid game and need the coach to tell them to.
Which is what Sterling was saying should happen. If we are getting bashed in the middle, start to go wide earlier. That is up to the captain, halfback and number 9 to work out mid game.
I think the mantra that you have to earn the right to go wide is not nearly as important as people think. At least not anymore.
 

yy_cheng

Coach
Messages
18,009
They have been told, as they continually repeat, that they have to stick to the game plan and "get them at the end". Ive heard this any number of times post match from both Gutho and Mitch. Have you ever heard them say we need to play whats in front of us if its not working? I havent. They play to a system that works often but not always.
That's what ba said about Fergo. He didn't stick to the system and so had to GOTO Reggie's to relearn it
 

Noise

Coach
Messages
17,106
They are dumb if they cannot alter their play mid game and need the coach to tell them to.
Which is what Sterling was saying should happen. If we are getting bashed in the middle, start to go wide earlier. That is up to the captain, halfback and number 9 to work out mid game.
They may or may not be dumb but the blue shirt trainer is the one constantly giving them the messages throughout the game about what the coach wants them to do. I can't see the whole spine (including our captain) going against what the coaches messages are.
 

Kornstar

Coach
Messages
15,556
I think the mantra that you have to earn the right to go wide is not nearly as important as people think. At least not anymore.

Agreed, it is about speed, not just genuine speed (it helps though) but running onto the passes with depth and pushing up accordingly.

You watch when the really good teams shift it in their own half, they move the ball across the field at an incredible rate which with the natural compressed defences (in order to slow down through the middle) teams have when defending in the opposition half the defence starts to spread out to react to the wider passes but when you hit the ball with pace it allows the edges to use their footwork or draw and pass, turn back into the gap, whatever the option presented is.

Sure it is not simple but against the shittier team you should easily be able to beat up on them.

When playing the good teams though, earning the right is probably the better way to do as to not take such big risks, otherwise you just open yourself up to errors.

We seem content with trying to wear the opposition down though, and sure it works a lot of the time for us these days but it also doesn't help when you come up against teams like the Dragons or Raiders who for whatever reason on that night don't wear out and we don't do enough of the stuff needed during the rest of the match to just come up with it when needed. Souths, Roosters, Storm just do the same thing throughout the game which means they are so comfortable doing it because of so much repetition that it is second nature.

We changes the way we played last year neat the end in the lead up to the finals and there were varying degrees of success but it was too late. We should have started the year the same but we went away from it again and have gone back to the wearing down of teams as our tactic.
 
Messages
42,876
Agreed, it is about speed, not just genuine speed (it helps though) but running onto the passes with depth and pushing up accordingly.

You watch when the really good teams shift it in their own half, they move the ball across the field at an incredible rate which with the natural compressed defences (in order to slow down through the middle) teams have when defending in the opposition half the defence starts to spread out to react to the wider passes but when you hit the ball with pace it allows the edges to use their footwork or draw and pass, turn back into the gap, whatever the option presented is.

Sure it is not simple but against the shittier team you should easily be able to beat up on them.

When playing the good teams though, earning the right is probably the better way to do as to not take such big risks, otherwise you just open yourself up to errors.

We seem content with trying to wear the opposition down though, and sure it works a lot of the time for us these days but it also doesn't help when you come up against teams like the Dragons or Raiders who for whatever reason on that night don't wear out and we don't do enough of the stuff needed during the rest of the match to just come up with it when needed. Souths, Roosters, Storm just do the same thing throughout the game which means they are so comfortable doing it because of so much repetition that it is second nature.

We changes the way we played last year neat the end in the lead up to the finals and there were varying degrees of success but it was too late. We should have started the year the same but we went away from it again and have gone back to the wearing down of teams as our tactic.
Yep, agree with that.
 

lucablight

First Grade
Messages
6,067
You're right, which is why merkins were so furious when they beat us, but Souths' ladder position now is a better indicator of their quality than it was when we played them, due to being a larger sample

Personally, I picked Melbourne, Penrith and Souths as the three best teams in the comp at the start of the year, so I wasn't surprised they beat us. I expect them to beat us next time too.
Getting beaten by Melbourne and Penrith I can understand as their packs are comparable to ours but we should be steamrolling Souths when you compare the forwards. There’s a reason we were short priced favourites the first time we played them last season.
 

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